Vertical Jump Workouts, Exercises, and Tips

I know that this site is primarily dedicated to improving you vertical jump, but it’s also important to pay attention to other forms of training. My next goal in terms of fitness is to be able to do 20 full pull-ups in a row. My record so far is 15, but unfortunately that was from a few years ago. I’m starting at about 6 right now (I know, I’ve been lazy over the past couple years) and I’ll be working my way up.

I’ve decided that I’m going to follow a specific program that’s designed to help you get to 20 pull-ups. If you’re interested in trying it for yourself you can find it here. I believe this program has been around since 2009, but this is my first time trying it out.

Something that surprised me is that the workouts are actually pretty short and you only need to do them 3 times per week. That’s definitely manageable! This setup should allow the body to get used to doing pull-ups without causing overtraining.

Here’s a video of a guy who followed the program. I think he actually does 32 reps in the video. Nice!

Rock Climbing to Stay in Shape

The thing that actually motivated me to try the 20 rep pull-up challenge was that I started rock climbing with a few of my friends. At the moment, I’m going to an indoor climbing gym that has some nice 80 foot walls. If you’re interested go to Google and search for “indoor rock climbing” or something like that. Google should give you locations on a map if there are any in your area.

Rock climbing is not something that had really crossed my mind until my friend invited me along. To tell you the truth, it’s actually pretty addicting. It’s a really great feeling when you finally get to the top of a new route. The rocks are set up in routes that you follow which provides an easy way to monitor your performance and progress. Each route is usually labeled with a level of difficulty which is nice, too.

If you’re looking for a good way to stay in shape I would definitely try to find an indoor rock climbing facility near you. It’s an awesome way to train your entire body and build up some endurance.

Also, don’t forget to take the 20 rep pull-up challenge. I’ll update all of you in the coming months with my results. I’m hoping it will benefit my climbing abilities as well.

Whether you’re trying to improve your bench, or just trying to increase your athletic ablity, plyometric pushups are a great way to build explosive upper body power. Many athletes, especially gymnasts, use this exercise to build their chest strength and endurance.

If you’ve hit a plateau in your bench, plyometric pushups can also help with that. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of variation to get things moving again. It’s amazing how quickly your body can adapt to certain movements, so use this exercise to blast through that plateau!

How to Perform Plyometric Pushups

We’ll go through this exercise step by step. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Set up two boxes/books of equal height next to each other about 4-6 inches wider than shoulder width apart

If you’re a beginner, start low (2-3 inches)

Get into pushup position between the two boxes/books

Lower yourself as if doing a regular pushup and then explode up so your hands come off the ground

When your hands come off the ground try to land on top of the boxes

Repeat

If it’s too difficult for you to get your hands up on to an elevated platform, start off by just trying to get your hands off the ground. As you get more comfortable with the motion add in a platform and go from there.

For those of you visual learners out there, the following is a video demonstration of plyometric pushups.

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